Shanghai market falls most in a day since 2008 following crackdown on
speculative trading

Shares in Shanghai suffered their biggest one-day fall since 2008 on Monday following a move by the Chinese securities regulator to curb some speculative trading in the rapidly rising stock market.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission barred three brokerages from opening new margin trading accounts for three months and said on Friday it would prevent margin trading contracts of longer than six months after an investigation into their practices. Other brokers were given warnings.

“The new policy is probably a response to the sharp retail-driven rally in the domestic stock market last year,” said analysts at Deutsche Bank.

Shanghai’s Composite Index has risen 60pc in the past year. Margin trading, or borrowing money from a broker to invest it, enables traders to place greater sums in the equities market. However, the tighter rules will mean traders must hold at least 500,000 yuan (£53,000) in assets before brokers are allowed to lend to them, up from 300,000 yuan previously.

The Shanghai Composite Index was down 7.7pc to 3,116.35 on Monday. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 1.2pc, led lower by Chinese stocks.

The affected brokerages were among the biggest fallers. Citic Securities and Haitong Securities both fell by 10pc, the maximum one-day movement allowed on the Shanghai market.

The slump was also felt in London, where the two biggest fallers in the FTSE All-Share in early trading had links to China. JP Morgan Chinese Investment Trust fell 3.7pc by 9.15am, while Fidelity China dropped 5.3pc.